Lastest Stories by Michael B. Sauter

Student loan debt, the second largest consumer debt category in the United States after home mortgages, reached an all time high of $1.6 trillion in 2020, roughly equivalent to the GDP of South...
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on the length of the workweek in the United States, with many workers forced to move to part time or otherwise change hours as a result of largely remote...
In March, the U.S. senate voted down a provision to the COVID-19 relief bill to increase the U.S. minimum wage to $15 an hour. The proposed increase was meant to correct the relative declining value...
COVID-19 dealt a serious blow to the U.S. auto industry last year. Americans bought 14.7 million vehicles in 2020, the fewest in a decade and a 16% decline from the previous year. The pandemic,...
The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated a surge in home sales across the country as people looked to flee densely populated cities, looking for more room and space for the entire family. The high demand...
Video games were already a favorite technology-based form of entertainment for millions of people before the COVID-19 pandemic. As people were asked to stay at home as much as possible — and many...
Since hitting a multi-decade peak of 15.9% in 2011, the annual poverty rate in the United States has been steadily improving. Though the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting recession may ultimately drive...
On Jan. 20, President Donald Trump left office, leaving behind a complicated and controversial legacy. What is not disputed, however, is that the stock market rallied during his presidency, with the...
Millions of jobs have been lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in the early months. While some jobs have since been regained, more than 10 million people in the American labor force are...
It has been more than five decades since the Fair Housing Act of 1968 outlawed housing discrimination on the basis of race, sex, national origin, and religion, and still segregation persists in some...
Since 2001, the annual presidential salary has been set at $400,000. Even before that, every president has been paid well. George Washington’s salary of $25,000 was equivalent to over $700,000 in...
In March 2019, Jimmy Carter became the longest-living former president in U.S. history. Carter, who is now 96, passed President George H.W. Bush, who, at the time of his death, was the longest living...
There are many important matters to consider when buying a new car, and something that often gets overlooked is a car’s reliability — or how long it will last before repairs are needed. Some cars...
State governments are constitutionally granted the power to control taxes, make and enforce laws, and regulate commerce within their borders. With these tools, state governments across the country...
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed out a tumultuous 2020 by hitting a record high of over 30,600 points. It has since climbed even higher, leaving shareholders and analysts wondering how long...